Kaksoset Twins by Curtvile and Ilano

Wrote this short comic years ago and got groovy artist I trust my skin with tattoos with Ilano to do the art.
been thinking coming back to these two...

KAKSOSET Ilano Curtvile by Curtvile

translation to english by yours truly

page 1
panel 2:  ”what's up, how's it going guys?”
panel 3:  ”we know or sumthin' , take a hike old-timer”
nuori 2” ”yeah beat it relic”

page 2
panel 1:  ” hey hey, no need to be like that. I heard you guys have dope to sell, u know?”
 ” Fuck, it's a cop”
”Hey hold it, no. Ninni said you deal  dope but ok not then”
panel 2:
   ”Shit, I said we shouldn't  sell to that blabby lil' slut”
 ”Shut it, you show the money ”

panel 3:  ”ninni said that..”
 ”we sure sure as fuck won't take payment from you like from Ninni dude, the money”

 ”This good? The fix?”

panel 4:.
 ”just drop the dough there and fuck off. Jesus your a thick fucker”
”This wasn't smart move from you boys . This one either”
 ”Guys he thinks he is  Chuck fucking Norris”

page  3
panel 1: ”leave the money and run old man and never bother us again”
 ” And do tell Ninni that we all still have to fuck her ass again for all that dope that she owes us. Hehe”
”Stupid  metrosexual brats, you are the ones getting the short end”
 ”You thretenin' us retard? We got guns and protection from mr In-Between. You totally retarded?”

panel 2:
”I brought a friend. He comes a bit further away but likes you exactly as much as I do. And about the shit you did to Ninni”

panel 3 :  ”Baagor hate metrosexual! Hate bussexual! Drugdealer  BAD! Hurt  Baaagor's friends!”

Page 4
Panel 1:”Baagor did good Pasi?”
 ” Baagor did really good. Now help Pasi find keys to their  beemer so that when we sell it we get some cheese and sausage on top of our bread. And case or few of beer. And Baagor?”

panel 2
”yes Pasifriend”
”forget that bussexual, I will explain later. Baagor is one good alien”
” harhar Baagor good alien, Pasi good  alien”
”found those keys, let's roll pal”

Recap 2012-2013 or what I did on my summer vacation

Yes, I haven't posted anything in two years.
I know, I know explanation sounds always like an excuse, but since I am stubborn and believe that bullshit gets you nowhere, let's do a short update on past two years.

Been more active in comicpunks mainly writing blaxploitation about Neda Ebony

Illustrated by my sister in crime Rama.

Still writing the noir horror thing and also now-in-public-domain-in-Europe characters script (this one I have tried to train drawing too, Crom help us all) and am working on an adventure story about man-eating tigers and porn stars.
And because my potential publisher is one of very few people reading this, get over the sex thing all right?
I am talking about something that has an actual plot and more a kin to Corto Maltese except in modern times.
Think more Amelia Earhart and Frida Kahlo and Nellie Bly then silicone tits galore, ok?
And when have I had a bad idea?
And once you stop laughing and can read again: storywise.

Yeah, I'll wait.

During past two years there are at least two 20+ page comics that are totally finished but unpublished, recession is everyone's friend right, and at least 100 pages worth scripts that are still in process of drawing with artists.
The few pages I have seen look great.
And few came back from publisher's with polite declination: not this time.


Personal life 2012-2013: Besides the usual cuts, bruises and burns I lost a few dear pets and even more human friends: 3 suicides, 2 vicious cancers and apparently one brain hemorrhage. And my  dear close friend´s parent was murdered, more specifically beaten to death.
 But since that's easy during 2013 3 of my friends got divorced or are still in process of that and I followed them in to the ranks of single men.

Other than that: it's been swell.

But like my maternal grandmother said ( no, not the "are they human or men?" line ) "no one gets more trouble in life that they can take".

And next weekend is going be good. I am supposed to meet with Tuomas Myllylä. He is not just a great guy as a person but also comic creator of bad-ass historical fiction.
The second part of Pakanat (Pagans) is finally coming out next saturday.

Smart viking revenge tale with human-sized people, done with heart. Highly recommended

I'll try to return in a bit less than two years time. No promises though

Your pal,
Curtvile

Bad ideas

Yeah they do that.
They just arrive.

I haven't posted anything for awhile.
Loads of paying work and plenty of comics work too.
Re-found the joys of hardboiled detective noir and gruesome horror.
Always needed.

And I am now a part of Comicpunks, blog where everyone else kick my ass graphicly all the way till next wednesday.
Any week, any year...heck, any millennium.
Any interested, especially those wanting to see great art by Sari Sariola or Rama enter here

And lil old me likes the slogan:

On a mission to draw, ink, color and write about big guns, hot females and brilliant characters since 2011

yeah, like the love of my life says: "You are the only man I know who goes to girls &guns sites for guns..."

you see none of these are bad ideas.
No, I have thought of writing and drawing a comic.

As far as Ideas go that's a still born.
Have to try anyways.

Coverstuff

Most likely this fall will see first issue of ongoing series of Koneballeriina ( Machineballerine in english, though that direct translation is less cool than in finnish)
the cover and art supplied by talented Katja Louhio.



It has a brave heroine, zombie chimpanzees and some thing fierce and terrifying.

Let's talk about sex...

I have talked about violence in comics a lot and written comics that have violence but let's say something about the fun stuff, right?

for some reason we have one or the other, either no sex at all or just sex and no story.

I am not a hypocrite, no I am a healthy straight man. I have read x-rated comics a-bundle, far less than non-sex comics as I prefer a plot.


No, really. No.


"Isn't it hot in here?" isn't a plot.


I have actually think about sex in comics and the divide. Either there is no sex at all or it goes full-on porn(unfortunately mostly badly drawn and worse written trite bad porn. Yes, there are qualities that too)


It must be the subject matter itself. Most past-adolescent people have experiences in sexual activities.

Sadly not all have any other living humans present...but it explains a lot about many artsy autobiographical comics.

You see most comics are about what their creators know about / are interested of.


And while few of us(thankfully) have first-hand experience about violence, about fights, muggings not to mention war or turning into werewolf while trying to stop advancement of oncoming zombiehorde.


You have to use your imagination, even if the situation is something you wouldn't really want to experience yourself in real life.


And then there are things we think about quite often.

Those are things we would like to experience, yes please thank you very much.

As with violence sex is often just something used instead of actual story. And used solely because of itself.

Another reason is that sex is something very personal, scary and dangerous.

But it is dangerous in whole different way than say fist- or firefights. And while some of us know about the battles that molded the shape of history there is no doubt in my mind that whole another sets of curves have shaped history at least as much.

In the quiet moments, before, during or after.

You see sexuality has it's primal side but it's tender side too. It's a mess of emotions mixed with coarse lust and sensitivity. Not an easy act to convey well.

And for many the chase is better than the catch. Same is seen in many forms of fiction, the stories end when they get each other or end up separated. The end.
So easy compared to real life.

There have been tries, besides Alan Moore's and Melinda Gibbes's Lost Girls , but very few and too seldom. (oh Cthulhu, I sound like the nitwits: "they mix adult with sex and violence, so childish" when that is not the case. Adult is adult, boring is boring.)

Just wondering why it is. I never have seen relationships boring, but 95% of all comics and 99% of "serious" comics about it are utter waste. They have the emotional scale of a soapopera. With worse acting. And the biggest problem I have with the "serious" comics is that especially in those 99% the soapopera is all you get, there is nothing more.

the basis for the rant is that I try to give characters that I have some sort of personal life and therefore have to think about sexual side too. I live with a smart beautiful woman whose mind intrigues me and whose body I lust. That tells something about me.

Mainly that I am luckier than I should be.

But I never have went for the easy way out. I want comics to be rich in the same way life is.



And that requires to deal with these matters too.

And what an intriguing thing it is. Have you guys read classical lit? Homer's Odyssey? All the monsters there in and loads of good old love and lust. Sirens, Circe, Calypso and of course the suitors of Penelope.

And remember this was after the trojan war, the ten year war mostly attributed to elopment of Paris and Helen, mainly to Helen.


Which is a bit unfair, after all it all began because Zeus just couldn't stay faithful and had flings.
He just had better PR.



My main gripe is that like Clemenceau said: war is too serious a matter to be left to the military, sex is important to be left for pornographers.

(thou having done research on the subject that world is quite interesting one. As in filled with stories way interesting)

So it's a warning. I need to add sex and romance in my scripts.

And hell yes this post gave me ample excuse to post sweet pics.


Deal with it.

Marvel's new clothes:Moon knight

I read a lot of comics, european , asian and american ones and so far in this socialmedia construct called blog I have mainly talked about my own stuff.

Marvel comics is biggest comics publisher in US. In order to keep it's lead it tries to keep up with times and hire best possible talent.

that is the theory anyways.

The problem is that big comics is same as big music.

At some point you also reach a point where the guys handling the money come and try to reign in too much creativity in order to keep as many buying customers as possible.

Yes, comics is an art.

But everyone needs to eat and there are no fairies that feed you since what you do is art and should be just accepted in all it's incomprehensibility.

All art has also commercial side. As does 98% of all life.
The payment just isn't always monetary, to some it's acceptance, belonging, achiement etc.

Now Marvel has decided to try once more to relaunch some of it's material with trusted artists.

Like Moon Knight:

Those unaware who (or what) Moon Knight is a short introduction:

Marc Spector was a mercenary that died in the hands of his companions while looting ancient egyptian tomb.

While dead the Egyptian God of vengeance, Khonsu, made a pact to him: Marc spector lives and serves as avatar of Khonsu on earth.

Many people often discredit Moon knight as merely Marvel's rip-off of Batman.

I have no idea what issues of Batman they have read since while Batman obviously has issues he never believed to be the undead fist of dead god.

And actually, that is maybe the sanest way to descibe Moon knight.

Quite unsurprisingly Moon Knight is quite a lunatic. In every incarnation Moon knight has had several personalities and even in tight-wearing crew he is considered to be more than a couple of cards short of a full deck. Not that it has ever stopped him playing. The others just hope that they get at some point what is the game he is playing.

In the seventies Marvel brought the ticket of blaxploitation, kung-fu-madness, street level crime and supernatural horror. Moon Knight falls to most categories , even blaxploitation.

But after his seminal run from Werewolf-by-night's opponent to a anti-hero in his own right something happened. As previous writers quit there still was this very unstable and strange character they had, but no-one seemed to know what to do with him.

And so it went for a LOOOOOONG time.

He was resurrected to former glory by Charlie Huston's and David Finch s Moon Knight comic.

And it still worked.

So after they saw there is life in the old warhorse white-clad streetwarrior got again top level writers and artists.

The latest is Brian Michael Bendis's & Alex Maleev's on-going Moon knight.

This duo had a tredemendous run with Daredevil, bringing the noir essentials that Frank Miller had introduced to that series back. They knew their stuff.

They still do.

And in the first issue they showed that this gamble was golden for Marvel. While they have decided to play down the supernatural horror in this Moon knight dont let spandex fool you.

We are deep in horrortown. But this time they are playing it subtle. Marc Spector is movie/tv-producer, done more credibly than Bruce Wayne ever was.

But the way comic is written you realize it's not a facade of secret identity. Marc Spector is charming, like that nice Patrick Bateman. Or that quiant and polite Norman Bates.

And once he wears the mask you almost await the Rorshachblotches to crawl on to the mask.

Nope, he is not ok. Not in any planet in any universe.

Maleev's art has suitably edgy and angry tone to it. It's not as vibrantly brash and violent as TEX's art was in 90's Ghost rider comics, but it has tension. Every damn frame is loaded. Coiled like a compressed spring-baton, just waiting any excuse to leap in brutality.

Should have known that Maleev's vision of California isn't sunny with chance of beachbunnies. It's sharp and creepy, a bit like when you are half-awake half-asleep. It's real but with hints of unstability.

I for one hope that the team can keep to momentum and promise given by issue 1.

Cause then boys and girls it's gonna be a wild ride. Are you mad enough for it? Well?

ARE YOU?

The house that violence built

Today I met one of young upcoming comic artists of Finland today and we had a long discussion(ok, ok: rambling) about comics overall.
About forum's and scene and all that funky stuff.
In a way I admire his lean towards artsy and personal.
And humor.
And the fact that both of us are solely interested doing comics we would ourselves want to read.

I enjoy horror, scifi, crime, adventure basicly all of those "escapists" stories. If you want to tell me about relationships or how lonely you are I see no reason not to tell it through some hard-assed kick-your-face-in-if-you-look-at-sideways kinda way.

And now after that comment all those with only two live brain cells have stopped reading after categorizing and judging me on their own preconceptions and stereotypes as semi-fascistic violencemonger.
Good riddance to them.

You see I enjoy stuff like The Walking Dead and Locke&Key.
Both are horror, both are gruesome, neither are cheap or pandering. They dont glorify violence.
And while I like old-school adventure films(even though I know the truth about people such as "heroic" Errol Flynn) many of them or the current Disney's violence flicks are way more harmful than the R-rated movies.
Best example is Pirates of the Caribbean. It does good things too, I mean it has introduced zombies to loads of kiddies, but c'mon it has the bloodless swordfights where folks are whacked repeatedly with blades WITHOUT A SINGLE CUT.

That is dangerous.
As our western culture grows more estranged from actual life we also grow ever more unaware what violence is. the repercussions, reasons, repeats...the whole shebang.

Where I live(Finland) local comics are mainly newspaper strips aimed solely to funnybone or artistic "slice of life" comics.
We practically don't have any adventure or crime comics. Take Petri Hiltunen, P.A.Manninen, Anssi Rauhala and Jussi Piironen out of equation and then the realistical, straight-played comics are not even once in a blue moon.
And that is a very sad thing indeed.

You see if you don't talk about something or just refuse to acknowledge it...it still does not go away.
I have heard it a million times: "portrayal of violence just de-sensitizes to it and increases aggression"
Right. Sure.
there is some truth there, I admit. there is also a chance of similar truth that I am reborn god of wine too.

It's a matter of talent.
Yes, it can be violence for violences sake, utterly empty, dehumanizing trite.
If you forget it is about humans.
And it is exactly the reason I grow so bored to most slice of life stories, because they should also be about people, about humans.
because you just dont care a bit about any of them.
You should care about the characters, they should be as real as your friends, as real as you.
Or more so.

But while most of us have more in common with getting bills and going to shop etc we are pulled to acts of mayhem and murder.
Why?



because it is exeptional, vibrant, scary.
And it shows some part of people's true character.
Real self.

Yes, the same abilities come out whenever someone does something altruistic, aiding to fellow man unrequired, without any overt or covert plans of their own.
And lookee how often that happens, huh?

And there are also aestehtics.
There is something very wrong in the beauty of bloodshed, war and death.
But while many can accept grace, awe and purpose in predatory animals, eagles, lions, crocodiles, wolves we find it disturbing to see the same in men.
We know it but still we want and need to watch and not just for our curiosity.


It is a heinous thing to say there is something alluring in death and suffering, but we are social creatures.
We know that while we want to get along with everyone we cant. not with everyone and honestly, we don't want to either.
Frank Miller has lately been put down,his latest batman work was way beyond uneven and there was a movie called Spirit too, but weirdly beneath hookers with hearts of gold, hitmen, ninjas, nazis and gangsters Frank Miller has produced lasting works in comicdom.

His Daredevil, Ronin, Give me Liberty, The Dark Knight Returns are but mere pinnacle.
And his Sin city series nigh singlehandedly brought back crime and noir comics.
Without those David Lapham's Stray bullets or Brian Azzarello's and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets would have had no chances.
Or Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera.
Even Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips owes a debt to that direction.


See crime and horror went away, lurking into dark recesses of comicdom and were almost forgotten. Our fears were packed into spandex dreams and european BD comics or worse: something veiled under funny or "not dangerous".
The comics code sought to protect the kids but in my opinion it did anything but.

Being a male of species I have had my share of scrapes. I know firsthand how it feels to be threatened with violence, to be beaten and kicked and been shot at not to mention blunt trauma or stabs and slices.

There is no glory, just hurt, pain and fear.
None of it made me a better person.
but none of it made me worse either.

And all I have ever seen shows me that most of all that is caused two groups:by those people most loudly judging such behavior and those with low self-esteem.
the other group has "moral high ground" therefore has god-given right to opinion and forcing it to others at any point in their own mind.
And the other group is alienated already and has far more limited means to affect the world around them.
Having money and opportunities is power but as long as you dont have a pool of sharks, pet a white persian and have flunkies and henchmen no one views themselves as an aggressor.



Because violence defines us.
some of us worship it and some demonize it.
If we disavow it we are in effect making a choice between violence and non-violence thus accepting it's importance.

Tales of violence are tales of life and death.
They define also the choices we make, what respect we give to life.
They remind us of our mortality.

And as I work in construction I feel the need to add some of mine to the lot. A few more houses to be built.

Man the guns!

After april madness I got back to some of my earlier creations with my co-conspirators.

This here gent is Viapori, the answer to superhuman, alien and paranormal warfare according to the Finnish Defence Force.
Well actually more of a re-envisioning of this comicbook character.

Art and design is by Marko Keränen. Knowing his penchant for perfection and my endless fidgeting with the creations there will be developments.

One of my interests is military history and technology. Viapori gives me all the chances to mix up stuff I am interested in: science fiction, alien invasions, military hardware.

I view Viapori as my baby even though originally he was just a dude in flying armor in a prelude to a giant robot story I wrote. I asked the guys who the flying armored guy is.
They did not know, they just wanted to draw that kind of dude.
So I thought up his identity, backstory, motivation, organization behind the suit, codename etc.

You see while I like Iron man (comics and the movies) I didn't want to copy him or Warmachine.
Why bother? Marvel does those already.
My pitch was :" Armored soldier in MOAT ops in world with paranormal threats. Think Stargate SG-1 meets Mythbusters with Aliens like attitude"

And man was I lucky to have a great artist for the story.

But to those who ask has the ADHD wannabe-writer forgotten the other stuff? The fools april projects?
Nope.

Remember the pitch about World war 2 in the russo-finnish front?
Take real history and all the grit. Add dieselpunk and mad science.
Shake and stir.
And press the pedal all the way down.


Now I have to find artist who is a)talented b)interested in ww2 and c) loves weird tech.
As the story has lots in common with this second pic....

MAYhem DAY!

Had a weird weekend.
As I am very easily slipping to my normal state (=surly, vicious, anti-social and eagerly confrontational)I've experienced quite a season of joy and calm.
Greatest thanks to this are my my sweet offspring of a son and beloved dark queen of hearts and arts.

Me and my son watched X-men, X-men 2 and X-men3:the last stand and had adventures in the nearby woods, cemetaries and shopping malls.
And did brainstorming.

He had some mighty wild ideas that gave inspiration to my fertile mind.
He was also concerned I steal his ideas.
Ok so that is what dads do (and take the credit, too. It's the perk parents get for upkeeping the solemn duty of embarassing you in front of..well anyone, really)

Seriously though his creations got the ball rolling.


Sorry to say it might mean some "concept art" by yours truly, akin to skull there.

the day of reckoning.

It is the last day of april.
In the off chance any lost soul stumbling upon this blog might remember I made a pact.
To create a script in april.
A story with-in one month.
Please dont tell anyone about it as I have quite obviously lost all my marbles.

I have paper booklet, a scrapbook of sorts awaiting translittering to computer. To interpret my hieroglyphs to something resembling any known human language.
It is still bound to have loads of spelling/grammar mistakes.
Yeah, I write scripts and have undiagnosed dyslexia.
Whoever says the universe doesn't have a sense of humor?

anyways...to the results!


yeah I didnt do one story in a month.
I did three.
I may have a attention deficit syndrome too I guess.
Not that there wouldn't have been plenty of stuff unfinished to finish, oh no...

but while I shant post full scripts here (Please,call me Paranoid as I really am and it is one of my favorite songs too) but in short:

A tale of Dieselpunk world in shades of a cold war burning whitehot. Meet Jenny Lane.
She is young, adventurous and in deep trouble.
You see she took over her dad's business when he was shot down over mediterranean sea.
the business? Glad you asked. Pony express for modern times. No horses though, aeroplanes.
But this time our couriergirl is hunted by spies and gangsters, aristocrats and revolutionaries.
Too bad they are up against Jenny.

But thinking up that I came up with another piece of dieselpunk/pulp tale. It's world war 2. Finland is blocked up in the north. The soviets are attacking and surrounding nations are under nazirule (yes, yes dear swedes I know you were unaligned) and left to their own devices.
but what creations they are. But are you really going to risk your nations best and brightest youth by putting them on frontlines with experimental mad science?
Of course not.
It's war now and every man counts. And those enlisting to fight for their country get their prison sentences nullified.
War is hell so who better than sinners inside the Devils machinery.

And the third is a actionhorror piece from current events.
I found it too tempting to use a public domain comic figure (apparently not public domain in US yet, but doubt regocnizion will happen, nor publishing there) in different way.
A bit of postmodern take of classisc "funny" comic creation in quite un-funny civil war in Libya leading to unspoken horros that drive men mad in of so eldritch ways...
(ok so I am HPL fanboy and a war-nerd. Deal with it)


the concepts were fun. Storylines too but now starts the hard parts: typing it down and finding the artists suiting the stories.

As Sherlock said: The Game's afoot!

Blog 2 and I never drink (white) wine

Ladies! gentlemen! Boys and girls!
The old daft luddite tries to be hip.
See the sadness! Witness the witless in sorrowful attempt to follow the times as they pass his fossilic existence!
Amusement values of assured technological failure for all ages!

Yeah. I have a tumblr account.
Very hip, blogish, but immensely more anti-social.
Full of pics and people if not by actual age then at least by their heart who are at least twice younger than me.

Ok.

So at least 27 times younger than me. Hope you are happy now.

any ways...as I am known of my imagination it is: curtvilescomic.tumblr.com

And I have no idea how to use it yet. grand ain't it?

And more fun to follow: remember my rant on werewolf superiority?
I know, for a guy promoting tolerance I am such a speciest hatemonger when it comes to vampires.
and what a surprise something in that venue is coming up by yours truly and scifi/comicartist Marko Keränen

He can suavely go from HCscifi to horror and his black and white art fits the 4 page story of Otava.

Otava is a finnish superhero, or was.
You see in a previous heated battle of finnish superheroes against rogue giant russian superwarmechas he got thrown very high up.
The thing is flight isn't one of his powers.
or landing.
So he is paraplegic these days.
And most of finnish superheroes are AWOL /on a mission while teens and young adults go missing.

There is foul play and wornout, cripple hero.
Teaser page from Otava Musta peili (black mirror)


to the non-finnish speaking audience, yes in panel three in the caption box it says "Corpses. It's a vampire."

This will be out by fall of this I think, with some other stuff

and next time it's either more comics, babes, monsters, dieselpunk or something else.
And I really detest white wine.

Power of girls

I have written about female heroines already quite a bit. And not just in this here blog, but as in comics.
Come saturday 16th april 2011 there is once more a panel on the subject matter too and it goes roughly translated as "Supergals and the guys who wanna get beaten by them"
As I know most of the guys on the panel it's going to be quite entertaining.

yeah. Guys.

And some of you might have noticed that I am also a straight man.

And as I know that Modesty Blaise was created by men,as was Wonderwoman, Power girl, Supergirl, Catwoman, Elektra, Maggie the mechanic, Tara Chace, Promethea, Tank girl and even the women in Strangers in Paradise.

Those lucky enough to manage getting to Tähtivaeltajapäivä will get some...well most likely interesting answers.

I don't think I need to point out my view. Again.

See I stumbled on this picture, copyright by allan.williams24 in flickr



see? that there con picture has already better elements then most that hollywood has to offer.

A hot, strong independent female and cool monsters known as Predators.

Yeah, sure I know :there's "slice of life" stories too.
Oddly I think the characters they portray in that pic there would have much more interesting slices of life.

(the picture in question is also proof that the physique of female heroes is not wishful thinking on their male creators side)

To my opinion there are three maingroups that have a problem with this kind of heroines are the following:
1) the boys in my sons agegroup 7-10 years old.
The girls are icky to most of them. Give them time and this will change

2)people who dont feel that women are as capable as men.
To these there is no help. It takes a special kind of stupidity not to see beyond the gender, to the individual.
Sadly this group is protected by the same laws that apply to sane people.

and 3)false feminists.
These are the people who see repression and male chauvinism when you have a strong woman and when the woman isn't strong.
Unlike those who realize feminism as equality they have as limited view of both real world and fiction then their counterparts male chauvinists and the aforementioned group 2.
To their defense: they can re-evaluate their views given chance and persistance.

there are few reasons for this rant of mine.

one was the cracked-article about the 5 creepiest sex scenes in comics

the opening line and I quote:

If there's anyone who knows how to handle sex in a mature and tasteful way, well, it's not comic book writers

that sort of got me.

To write, to create, I feel I need to know what I am doing and why. Do I have an ulterior motive? A subversive one?

You see the dieselpunk story is advancing but there are two and because I would really like to have a female protagonist.
I dont feel ashamed to be a man. Men have caused loads of problems and while I can help in fixing existing ones the mistakes other men do and have done are theirs. Not mine.

And as I know I am ok with my sexuality. So it's not that either. But the number of bondage one stumbles on a normal search about this is baffling.


Those knowing me and my charmingly blunt bullterrier kind mentality, it cant be trying to pander to the masses.
Never understood why people would like to do something creatively just to appeal to others instead of doing stuff one themselves enjoys but isn't available.
If anyone else gets fun out of it, learns something or so on that's grand.

All these answers seemingly didn't tell me why my brain has decided that now is the time to have women, girls, grrllls and femme fatales as heroes.

One answer is there are now artists capable enough to present the fairer sex too.

And one is that I simply prefer beauty.
If there is no reason to choose a modern car in a story I choose a classic instead, the 1950s 1930's kind.
If there is a flyig machine of any kind in a story and it can be bi-plane or single prop engine or a zeppelin.
I rather use Alphonse Mucha instead of that god awful Jeff Koons.

Remember I said there were reasons, plural, to this post?
It pics like one before and this:


from Brian C Carters Fanboys dream.

Not showing them to more people would be a crime of some sort. A travesty against being geek and proud of it.

Let slip the Werewolves of war.

Once more I am a day closer to death then I was yesterday.
And happy about it.

I consider myself gladly damned by the old chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

And to prove it I jump from yesterdays much deserved praise for women to the other end of my inspiration: Horror. those of you expecting Twilight-type trite a) please go away and b) learn to read, I said Horror. As in :something scary.

While as of lately I have been introduced to US band My Chemical Romance (in spades) I can honestly say that Teenagers don't scare the living sh*t out me.
Nor vampires.

To me it's always been a mystery why vampires have been so popular.

Dracula's fine with all it's insidious little snipes at aristocracy, society, religion and of course sex and diseases.
If you are a horror fan (even if you aren't) these are given.
But I never got why settle for secondrate if you can have something better? Monarchy's all nice but while democracies and republics are less pompous we guys actually get stuff done. Empire has a nice ring to it, but then most of those are either ruined or mere shallow shades of their glory days.

Vampires and their fans are telling us that it's because vampires are in deepcore of horror: sex AND death.

Nope, sorry.
Nice sales pitch but I don't bite.

Sure you have the gothic chic, good looking aesthetics I'll give you that.

But see I am a goth too.

No, not in the way how it's seen now.
Not the stylized androgynous thingie of today that swears to Joy division.

The original goths.
The ones that sacked the roman empire.

See those barbarians were scary and had a real grasp of life. They were much closer to the true beast.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...the Werewolf.

See? now THAT is real face of our primal fears. That is raw sexuality and source of nightmares considering one's mortality.

Yes, I heard you in the back row...very quaint and ironic the "*cough* vampires can turn to wolves and smoke*cough*"quip.

Righty.

Sorry to rain on your parade but the dentally challenged guys have more deficiences than advantages, in pop culture and the original folklore:

-sunlight burns, either just bit beyond the carrot tan or far beyond TexMex BBQ rib
-cant cross running water (considering the number of real cities on riverbanks..)
-cant enter buildings unless invited, "no second date for you, mope as much as you want!"
-stopped by garlic. My guess is no-one has (yet) tried plain pizza herb. Probably works too.
-decapitation and a stake though heart. Wow,the first of these that makes any sense

and, oh...

-stopped by religious symbols. This cracks me up on so many levels.

Holy water and crosses are commonly used shenanigans but why stop there?
Just think of David's star-shaped shurikens and since christian faith has common ground not only with judaism but islam too it explains why there are no eco-vampires: if green is a holy color...(and also explains why one of best vampires in comics, Cassidy from Preacher, is so rare: being irish)

So yes, the vampires can turn to wolves or to smoke.
As a defense mechanism under the three F's rule against werewolves.

The smoke gives Flee a chance via intangibility as does wolf-form.
Turning into a wolf makes Fight a bit more of a sane tone, if not utterly desperate one, as far as options go.
The third F ... well being the polar opposite of FIGHT the turning into wolf is the fangy kinds last ditch "pleaseohplease dont hurt me" choice.
(and turning to smoke is a one try in avoiding that exact fate)
Not the dumbest move the vampires can make.

Those in the know might point out that I have actually written about vampires, in comics as well as in the sequal of sort's to Run Monster, run ( a tale I wrote to Comicmonsters.com ,a great site for any fan of horrorcomics or the genre)in it's the Britain set romp Bloody high stakes.

In that as well as in my comics work they are mostly cannonfodder.
To me the vampire isn't an archetype.
It's more of a stock bad guy that is easy to use since everyone knows it and no-one gives a toss if you do something heinous to them.
A bit like the nazis.
They too had awesome clothes design by Hugo Boss, made very little sense and also had their asses handed to them.

But as I lately read Run Monster run again in order to see if I could turn it into a comicscript and in the process I also read the still unfinished Bloody high stakes.
So, I wrote this story with creatures that I don't give a rodents bottom about? But not about the real deal?
Now, let's add that to my list.
A werewolf story.
That is going to be fun.

After all, life is short and one has to make choices: cats or dogs (DOGS), Doors or Mötorhead (Jim Morrison is dead, Lemmy Rocks) prancing glowing jedi-ripoffs with quasireligious BS=Twilight or Horror (ok, so this defies the multiple in multiple choice. as if there was an option..)

Besides, the werewolf is proud sly daddy to the best monsters of them all: the unstoppable Jason Vorhees, the harrowing bogeyman Michael Myers are the modern slasher offspring of the werewolf .
Hailing back from viking berserkers in their bear- and wolfskins.
The duality of werewolf ancestry is seen in the many glorious versions of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.

Those of you who thought that Jason and Halloween's main man are sole descentants of the beast... in the lineage of every slasher and serial killer from far too real Jack the Ripper to Dexter or that nice Bates-boy running his motel, there rises the shape of the wolf.
The roar and howl taints even pages of seemingly safe and spandexy atomic age superhero comics. The gamma radiation might have changed the furcoat to green muscles but the reason HULK of Marvel comics is tattooed on my leg is that he is also one of the members in the pack.

We humans are basicly are still (and will be )primitive. We are scared of the dark.

We should be.
Bad Moon is rising.

The wolves are coming.

Babe-a-rama

Being sick means I can't sleep properly and while I would love to write the stories I have decided to use this post to shamelessly put out some pieces of inspiration to me.

at this point you people should not be surprised.

Not really.

I know terribly sexist of me and for some probably degrading to women or some such. You notice me caring about that kind of un-necessary PC trite then congratulations you have just met my changeling.

I love my women as women: curves required but one thing is mandatory. Brains. I know, I know. On the above pic it's not brains you see at first, but I'd like to think so. Otherwise it is just a glorius waste up there.

In women at their best there is both, the inner beauty and strenght and the outer looks. And what wondrous creatures they are. I have no problem delving into mindscape of martian warlords or street tough guys but to write about females... it's scary, challenging and more alien then xenomorphs.

And I find it a bit peculiar why there are so few female heroines out there. I mean women and girls can relate to them better then at the male scarred warveteran down on his luck and for the guys(and more than some girls) it has added bonus of catching their attention better. Once they snap out the drooling phase, that is.

So there are already a couple of irons in fire on my account, since no one else seems to be doing it, i am very lucky to have an partner, both in our artistic disorganized crime and in life, that does things like this: I know that the androidwoman is a fictious character, but see the strenght? The resolve? Beauty and composure and all the immensity and complexity that she possesses? I for one am in love, or the very least swept off my feet in infatuation with the maturity and sensuality the character has.

It's funny to think though. I have been lucky to work with both my dark gothy queen Sari Sariola(who still has a script or two, or three(or more..) to work on) and afore mentioned Julia Riitijoki and dumbfoundingly talented Katja Louhio. All are good, if not great, artists in their own right, but they can breathe life into female characters in subtle ways so simply that it is unfathomable for most male artists. I like my women as smart, strong and sexy on their own terms and rights in real life. And these talented women can make it happen in comics pages too. I don't know if world needs that, but that's what I want.

And that's what I am going to do and if dark gods of comics are on my good side these art goddessess shall come to my rescue and will plow down any and all resistance in their way.

Seize the day back for heroines in comics.

And on an endnote: those of you who stumbled or googled here because of the name and expected too see sexy pics of Rama, one of best female comic artists northern europe has to offer in her own right(no Rama, it really is true )you better check Ms Mandus Oblivion High to see that, then boy are you in trouble because I happen to know her.

She can kick your ass so watch out.

Something new, something blue, something elder...

Been married once and I am one of those who tries to learn from their mistakes instead of repeating them. But I am also among those never got the memo about "giving up" On about anything. Reason I babble incoherently this time is that I had the pleasure of chatting with yet another artist after some unfortunate hiatus. And it made me pumped to hear he might actually be working on a comic in near future. Being an avid fan of comics I rejoiced as Hannu Lipponen is not only smart guy with a sense of humor but as an artist belongs to a class of his own. Like many other honestly good artists he also is far too modest and overtly critical of his work. I have many faults but modesty isn't one of them. He is astounding. to make matter more clear here's something for your consideration. Few years back I wrote piece of Mythos. Yeah a modern day yarn of cosmic horrors beyond euclid timespace, so immense they are beyond good and evil. The beings that will undoubtably crush all mankind as byproduct of their existance. So I belong to HPL fanboy club, your point? But anyways, there was a comicproject that has been on ice for three to four years now but this script lead me to talks with Hannu Lipponen. He made some unfinished sketches. Um yeah. See this is "unfinished sketch of Cthulhu's eye in that comic:

yes. that is Unfinished. Yes that is a sketch. Someday that comic of forbidden knownledge and library set horror will be hopefully published, most likely on the hour the stars are right...IÄ! IÄ!

I await the day I pick any comic sporting his art with excitement.

The (common) Cold war and other miseries

I am at the moment in throes of common cold. Well as common as any cold ever is.
One of those moments when reading news about antibiotic-resistant superbacteria that's just...fitting.

The cold just happens to mess up both. The plan to go to London's Kapow comic con and the contingency plan the finnish Tampere kuplii comic event

how nice.

Now as I have gotten most of tight spandexclad stories out of my system for the moment(undoubtably short moment but still) and pulpy dieselpunk is on it's way for april as well I am finding enjoyment in action fiction.

I just watched The Company miniseries and the buxom goddess with brains that happens to be my GF got me spyactionfest adapted(cough*quiteliberally"adapted"*cough) from comicbook that is RED.
Fun with spies and violencein company of a nerdy female beauty.
Screw you influenza. I win.

This reminded my croggy gray cells (of brain-kind, not terrorists or aliens) that wait didn't I do some silly draft's about the subject?
Why Yes I did.
And apparently I still have them.

Just blow some dust off it, polish a bit and fix the story a bit. Make it more angletonian wilderness of mirrors with hardcore assassins...
and it gives me an excuse to show this picture:

Done by young, immensely talented graphic designer/comic artist that goes in DevArt by sig Penuser just click the link on the name to see more of his art.

You wont regret it.

Taking the above pictures inspiration and my previous notes and despite the flu: I am cooking with gas.

Update on comicprogress

Some time ago I finished script for Koneballeriina(MACHINEBALLERINE in direct translation, the name works way better in Finnish I tell you) And with extreme stroke of luck I got Katja Louhio as the artist for it. I am not known for my luck but in this case what ever dark gods chant their curses at me, now they either missed or decided to give the poor bastisch a break. the evidence is some selected pagesketches from upcoming Koneballeriina #1 page 3 shows off nice composition and both the heroine and of course the villain of the story. here's page seven. these and much, much more at Katja's blog vampkis.blogspot.com and there is even more at her personal blogpage KaBlob She is one of up and coming stars this country has to offer. edit: like with ANY picture I post: just click it to see as it is supposed to be seen. Not really a computer wizard. More like computer orc. If it doesn't work I hit it. That is unfortunately true as GF will most likely tell you all.... I am truly honored to work with her.

And now for some defreshments

I am cranking scripts left and right and coming up with new ones. And even as statistics are on my side, I mean once one does enough(as in hell of a lot) scripts there is bound to be some that actually are worth a damn. But then I do what all comicwriters do: I hope the artist saves my butt. So far the artists have a heck of a track record in that. So instead of talking stuff I intend to do here is some coming out within a week or so. First a preview from a piece of sentimentalism and warmth that shows that yes men have feelings too: sakkearts is pretty talented guy whose DApage ought to be viewed more. In the same issue there is also a silent story about a feral boy raised by ravens and hooded crows. And a girl. Art by Julia Riitijoki. so the cranky hermit get's something done too every once in a while. There are some awesome tasters to add but let's leave that for later. See? It is amazing what good artists can do. Now back to dieselpunk with a vengeance. edit. those experiencing problems with pics, why yes I am a luddite whose computer skills are limited to temper and use of hammer. How did you guess?

Wait...what?

Sweet Cthulhu on a tricycle...what did I say in the previous message? A whole new story? in one month? Just another fine mess I got myself into.... see us writers get asked "where do you get your ideas?". Not very often though. Usually everyone assumes falsely that everything just springs out of the artist's quill/pencil and writers are somewhat glorified letterers, with way worse handwriting. But to the question. Harlan Ellison famously answered that his ideas came from a post office box in Schenenactady, if you send in two dollars and a selfaddressed stamped envelope they send an idea back to you. Well, that's great you say. It would be if did not live in Finland where the national post office is the last refuge of utter and total bureaucratic ineptitude. I made them sound bad when they actually are quite efficient: letters and packages they can't destroy beyond rescue they lose. Therefore, back to square one. (in all honesty, the Finnish post might have send me more than a few of mr.Ellison's ideas by mistake) Now I need to think. That is some dangerous business. Ok, off to library.

Proud dad of a zombie chimpanzee

Well actually I do have a great son, but as a scriptwriter I just saw in the artist's blog a sketch of a zombiechimpanzee. see:

Even better then I thought. Man am I lucky to have such talent to breathe life into these demented creations.

And you guys thought it is possible to survive a zombie apocalypse...yeah right